Looks like I was wrong about the estimated mileage that Dodge put on their website about the Charger SE model. We got 27.67 mpg on our trip to Vegas (282.2 miles / 10.2 gallons). That was going 70-75 mph the whole way, which if it had been 65-70 it probably would have been better. We filled up before we left Vegas to come back home and we haven’t filled it up since we got back this afternoon, but it looks like it’s going to be about the same mileage for the return trip too.

One thing though that I should mention. The night before we left for Vegas we went to the airport to pick up my Mother-in-law, which is about 60 miles round trip. We had filled up that day, then we filled up again the next day just before we left for Vegas. The mpg we got from just driving to the airport and back was less that 17mpg! That was with two extra adults and their luggage in the car. What a difference the extra weight can make.

Something I’ve been reading a lot about lately is something called hypermiling. Hypermiling is essentially the art of maintaining a vehicle and driving that vehicle in the most efficient standards. For example, the tires on my car have a maximum pressure of 44 psi. I used to inflate them to about 35 psi – a number I’m not certain how I came about – but have recently inflated them to their max pressure. This will help to reduce the rolling resistance and should increase fuel economy by approximately 10% (according to most articles I’ve read).

I’m also coasting a lot more. I’ve found that my car, even uphill, maintains a pretty steady rate of speed when coasting. This means that I can lay off the gas several blocks before I need to stop which saves a lot of gas on rural streets. On a flat, straight road I’ve let off the gas as far away as 1/8th of a mile before I needed to stop and I hadn’t even dropped 5 mph by the time I got to the stop light/sign! I bet that I could coast for a total of as much as a mile on my 12 mile commute to work.

If what I’ve read is true then these two practices could increase my MPG by as much as 3 miles per gallon. That’s a lot! I usually get an abysmal 17mpg in the car (2007 Dodge Charger) so 20mpg would be a great start to lowering my transportation footprint. I’m really curious to find out just how much of a difference it is going to make. I’ll report back in a week or two to update on the results, and possibly with some additional tips.